Washington Township Cemeteries

Washington Township was organized in March 1832

Fort Wayne covers most of this mostly suburban township.

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Click on the yellow dot Washington Township pin to see cemetery names.

David Archer Cemetery in Johnny Appleseed Park

On the hill near the east side of Parnell Avenue, southeast Harry Baals Drive and just south of the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum parking lots. A 1972 application for the Johnny Appleseed Memorial Park to the National Register of Historic Places at the National Park Service on page 2 under Item 7, Description, states the Old David Archer cemetery consisting of 2 acres of land, and containing the grave of John Chapman, known as Johnny Appleseed. If the cemetery contained 2 acres of land how many other pioneers were buried here and what happened to their tombstones and any records of burials? The local Mary Penrose Wayne Chapter NSDAR photographed the cemetery in April 2009 and found only 3 tombstones, but lists 22 names from their 1932 DAR readings on their Archer Cemetery web page.

DAR Archer Cemetery photo
Go to Mary Penrose DAR photos

This early settler cemetery includes the John Johnny Appleseed Chapman burial site. IN DNR Latitude 41.1117 Longitude 85.1233. See our Johnny Appleseed and Johnny Appleseed Newpaper page for more information especially a July 15, 1923 description of the status of the Johnny Appleseed grave site describing the site as: we found one of the most neglected and lonely burial places in all Indiana. A tangle undergrowth of brier, shrub and tree, with here and there a headstone, half buried, half revealed in the sandy soil, indicated the nature of the place. An iron fence surrounding the grave of Johnny Apppleseed gave information that it had been placed there by the Horticultural society of Indiana. This, and nothing more. .

Go to: DAR tombstone photos, Find-A-Grave, Google map, 31 acre Johnny Appleseed Park south and east of the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum, and Hiker Central reviews the camp ground.

More ‘buried concerns’: Losing graves has happened fairly frequently in Fort Wayne’s history by Joshua Schipper posted December 15, 2021 in Wikimedia Commons.org. Discusses Chief Little Turtle burial location, Johnny Appleseed and Archer Cemetery, the Broadway Cemetery now McCulloch Park, and Chief Richardville burial location.

A May 3, 1914 newspaper article Two Men in Allen County Were Present at Appleseed Funeral. Clipped from The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette 03 May 1914, Sunday, page 6, by StanFollisFW on 20 Feb 2022 says the cemetery In addition to Appleseed, some twenty or twenty-five persons have been buried in the David Archer cemetery. It contains about a half acre of ground and consequently not large enough to bury a great number. Another article on May 10, 1914 states it originally contained the graves of around 150 people! "Too Bad Johnny Appleseed Died So Early in Life;" His Life; Work Clipped from The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette 10 May 1914, Sunday, page 48, by RonaldChard1960 on 24 March 2017 titled: Another Johnny Appleseed article from 1914. Hiram Porter living on a farm in St. Joe township recalled Johnny Appleseed. In one paragraph he says: I can show you the cemetery and the spot where Appleseed is buried. If I am not mistaken 150 [6?] people are buried there. My father and my two wives rest there, my three children and a brother and sister. That was known as the Old David Archer cemetery and for many years it was quite a curiosity. Now it seems to me more of a curiosity than ever from the way people are talking about it. So one has to wonder if either article is correct?

December 15, 2021 post by Joshua Schipperon Facebook:

This is one of the most heavily researched pieces I've written. It was fun to be able to travel to these historic sites and conduct some scavenger hunt research over the last two months!

#fortwayne #news #local #cemetery #historymatters #history

Allen County Genealogical Society of Indiana

More ‘buried concerns’: Losing graves has happened fairly frequently in Fort Wayne’s history Joshua Schipper, December 15, 2021 on Input Fort Wayne.

Also posted on Facebook by Input Fort Wayne on December 23, 2021.

A December 15, 2021 comment to the post said missing tombstones from the Archer Cemetery near the Allen County Memorial Coliseum may be somewhere in the coliseum. Anyone know anything. This is also known as the Johnny Appleseed Graveyard.

 

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Bethel - Wallen Cemetery

Corner of Bethel and Till Roads

Several years later, they erected a small log church in the northwest part of the township, which was known as “ Bethel Church.” The ground for the chapel and cemetery was donated by George Ash ley. Rev. J. W. Winans was the first minister. The building is still standing and is occupied by the sexton of the cemetery.

From page 179 of the History of Allen County, Indiana. Publication date 1880 Publisher Kingman Brothers on Archive.org.

DAR Bethel Cemetery photo
Go to Mary Penrose DAR photos

Earliest date 1833. Public. Not in use. IN DNR Latitude 41.1675 Longitude 85.1889.

Go to: DAR tombstone photos, Find-A-Grave, or Google map

Hatfield Cemetery

2904 West Washington Center Road, next to, and in front of, the trailer court

The Township Cemetery was donated by Thomas Hatfield in 1830. It consists of one acre, which was originally a part of his farm, on Section 22, and is still used for the purpose for which it was designed.

The first death in the township was that of Mary, wife of Joseph Gill, whose remains were interred in this cemetery.

From page 178 of the History of Allen County, Indiana. Publication date 1880 Publisher Kingman Brothers on Archive.org.

SJF Hatfield Cemetery signFind-A-Grave photo
Go to Mary Penrose DAR photos

Earliest date is 1816. Still in use. IN DNR Latitude 41.1314 Longitude 85.1786.

A group of volunteers organized to clean the unkempt cemetery with headstones including a gravestone for a Civil War veteran and other finds forgotten under an overgrowth of vines, moss and other vegetation in the summer of 2020 forming a Facebook group called Hatfield Cemetery 1830 and featured in Volunteers tend to neglected cemetery by Ashley Sloboda published September 07, 2020 in The Journal Gazette newspaper. The Facebook page includes a copy of the Hatfield Cemetery Association Secretary's Ledger book for Washington Township, Allen County, Indiana.

January 29, 2023 photos and discussion on True Fort Wayne Indiana History on Facebook

Go to: DAR tombstone photos, Find-A-Grave, BillionGraves, or Google map

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Saint Paul's Evangelical Lutheran
aka Coldwater Lutheran
aka Ludwig Cemetery

Street View photo from Google maps

Uniquely located between Coldwater Road and I-69 at Ludwig Road inside the highway interchange. Interstate I-69 was proposed in 1957 almost 100 years after the first burial in 1858 in the cemetery from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Allen County - Fort Wayne Historical Society sign on the DAR page has a brief early history of the church.

Earliest date 1858. Last burial appears to be an infant in October 1940.No longer in use. Some German language tombstones. IN DNR Latitude 41.1397 Longitude 85.1358 is barely south of Google map location by less than 100 feet.

For tombstone photos go to:

  1. DAR tombstone photos
  2. Find-A-Grave

Headstones were damaged when a drunken driver flipped his van in early November 2010 discussed in Minivan flips into cemetery; driver facing DWI charge by Jeff Wiehe published November 9, 2010 and updated as Van crash disturbs, damages cemetery by Jeff Wiehe published November 10, 2010 in The Journal Gazette newspaper. Both articles are now on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Discussed January 8, 2017 on You are positively from Fort Wayne, if you remember... Archived group only visible to existing members on Facebook.

February 4, 2021 post by the Indiana Department of Transportation: Northeast on Facebook:
Join us now for a Public Information Meeting regarding the project at Coldwater and Ludwig with the City of Fort Wayne.

March 10, 2022 post by the Indiana Department of Transportation: Northeast on Facebook:

Construction is getting ready to begin on the I-69 and Coldwater Road interchange in Fort Wayne. Not everything is starting at once so you'll want to keep in mind the changes you could experience when driving through the area. Read more at the link below.

Interstate I-69 was proposed in 1957 almost 100 years after the first burial in 1858 in the cemetery from Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.

 

Photos and discussion May 1, 2023 on Abandoned and Forgotten Indiana on Facebook.

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Old Sacred Heart
aka Saint Vincent Roman Catholic Cemetery

Corner of Auburn and Wallen Roads.

DAR Old Sacred Heart - St Vincent Catholic Cemetery photo
Go to Mary Penrose DAR photos

Early French settlers. The original church was on the north side, locally famous as the the popular Halloween Haunted Castle it was torn down in 2007. There was a cholera epidemic in 1854, cemetery was used as a common grave for many. IN DNR Latitude 41.1603 Longitude 85.1192.

Go to: DAR tombstone photos, Find-A-Grave, Google map, or Grave Book on Facebook has location photos.

July 19, 2023 post by Today's Catholic on Facebook:

When visitors enter the Oratory of St. Mary Magdalene in Fort Wayne, among the many beautiful and striking sights before them, they will see engraved beneath the Cross of Christ, “Behold, I make all things new.” These words from the Book of Revelation encapsulate the entire story of salvation while also describing the spiritual work which takes place in the Oratory, as the Lord continually “makes new” those who offer their time and their hearts to Him in His Eucharistic presence.

In a unique way, the outside of the Oratory has now been made new as well.

Read more... Trees that Died are Made New Again Outside the Oratory of St. Mary Magdalene

 

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Suburban Bethlehem Lutheran Cemetery

Northeast corner of West California and Flaugh Roads by the Suburban Bethlehem Lutheran Church

DAR Suburban Bethlehem Lutheran Church cornerstone photo
Go to Mary Penrose DAR photos

German settlers, some stones are in German. In use. Earliest date possibly as early as 1870 or 1877. IN DNR Latitude 41.1183 Longitude 85.2261.

Go to: DAR tombstone photos, Find-A-Grave, or Google map

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Page updated: October 14, 2023